


This Has Been Corrections

by deepnest



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Autistic Carlos (Welcome to Night Vale), Autistic Cecil Palmer, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Or At Least An Effort Was Made, Post 155, emotional resolution, resolved emotional tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-06
Updated: 2019-10-06
Packaged: 2020-11-26 10:09:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20928491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deepnest/pseuds/deepnest
Summary: Carlos comes home, and makes dinner with his husband. Has Cecil Palmer ever eaten peppers before?





	This Has Been Corrections

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings for food weirdness, mostly canon typical but gross/involving bugs)

Cecil drove Carlos home after the press conference. He didn't say much. There wasn't much he could say. 

He had already asked, _Are you - how are you, bunny?_

And then, _Are you sure? I mean I'm glad you're okay, just, Carlos, _oh_, Carlos-_

A thousand times, a thousand variations. Or maybe just five, before Cecil had realized that Carlos actually did seem okay and at that point the questions were more likely to become stressful. So. He stopped talking. It hadn't even been that long, from the doors of the police station to the press conference to here, now, the car.

It was the physicality of it that drew the experience out, time understood through heartbeats. Cecil, catching Carlos in the long, tight hug they'd shared outside of the police station. Carlos, leaning on Cecil's arm as he tweaked the mobile broadcast setup, tangled with him like a wire, setting him sparking under his skin.

And here, now, the car. Cecil cast half-melted glances at his husband and took his hand at every stoplight. Carlos had his eyes closed. He could look so serene. He could do this; it was an ability, something he did consciously, and honestly. He felt serene - the triumph of facts and logic had bolstered him against gravity, allowing him off the couch for the first time in weeks. 

The car stopped at the light outside of their neighborhood. Carlos opened his hand and Cecil took it. They twined their fingers, palms together, and Cecil pressed Carlos' hand down against the console. It wasn't force, just pressure, just the weight of him determined to meet Carlos'. 

After Cecil had parked, he turned to Carlos, rested a hand on his shoulder this time. Carlos opened his eyes, but waited to get out.

Cecil moved the hand to Carlos' cheek. "You're okay. I trust that. I trust you. But I want you to tell me if you need anything, okay? Even though you're okay."

"Sure, Ceec." Carlos tilted his head to kiss Cecil's fingertips, and stepped out of the car. He reclaimed Cecil's hand at his first opportunity, and as they walked in, he said, "Hey. I'll handle dinner tonight, okay? You've been really good about it while I was, hmm... trapped by my own momentum. Scientifically speaking." 

"Are you sure? I mean, today was… You know." Cecil gestured vaguely, swinging their joined hands forward. "You know. It was pretty crazy. So I think I can handle one more night, if you need to rest, bunny."

"Mmm. I appreciate the thought, and you. But I want something to do with my hands."

Cecil hesitated, and said, "Then… let me help. Please." 

Carlos stopped in the entryway, spinning so quickly that his labcoat flared. Cecil just caught himself stepping back, when Carlos clapped his hands in front of his chest. "Oh, sure! I think... I think that would be a very good 'welcome home' thing, or... Um. I'm not sure how to present it scientifically. But yes. I want to make dinner _with_ you."

They decided on what to make, and Carlos prepared the necessary ingredients, settling into the act of making and filling a list - chickpea pasta, sun-dried tomatoes, peppers. They were out of cilantro, but had plenty of dish soap, which Carlos preferred anyway. 

He worked with what was in front of him, and only that. He rinsed the peppers, turning them over in his hands under the water one at a time, before passing them on to Cecil to cut. Carlos cataloged the fruit's features, size and smoothness and shine, and each was a color that he thought was beautiful. This one, a vivid, dangerous red, to warn away hungry animals, mimicking the physiology of more potent poisons. At least, he thought so... 

Carlos held up the next pepper. Cecil opened his hand, and Carlos placed it in the center of his husband's palm. 

Carlos said,"It's a scientific fact that bright colors are warnings! I think that's true of nature, too. I'm not really a botanist. But it's definitely true when you're talking about chemical warnings labels-" He demonstrated with another pepper, this one an appropriate shade of yellow. "Or, of course, the higher spectra of danger as depicted on any standard danger meter."

"Like this, you mean?" Cecil spun the pepper he'd received by its stem. 

"Exactly like that!" Carlos rocked up on his toes. "So, according to standard fatality units, that pepper should be incredibly dangerous. We should have to, like, be watching for explosions or something-"

"Uh, so, should we be-" Cecil brandished the knife carefully, as if he'd never eaten peppers before. “-Doing this?”

"Oh, it's fine. There are two options here: option one is that peppers are just as dangerous as they look, for animals that contain less blood. With less blood, any toxins or venoms or poisons - which are different things, scientifically speaking - are less dilute. Also, humans are the only animals with straw-and-clay hearts that wouldn't be affected by most organic substances anyway.”

He settled back onto his heels, and held up an index finger. "Option two is just that peppers aren't very scientific. And they are kind of creepy inside, what with the bug eggs and all, so I can't discount that. It would be wrong of me to discount that without doing some research, and I've got a lot on my plate right now. So I can't say." 

"A lot of science to do, right? Hmm. You're so cute when you're excited!" Cecil kissed Carlos' forehead, and returned his attention to the cutting board and the fruit waiting on it. 

"I thought I looked like a child who wanted a toy, or who needed to pee," Carlos said. He was also facing the sink again.

"Oh." Cecil nudged a chunk of pepper away from the whole. "I did say that." 

"Mhm. You did." Carlos had picked up another pepper, but he stopped before turning on the water. They had enough peppers, anyway. Enough with the peppers. Since cooking was a science, Carlos was qualified to say that there were supposed to be other flavors in the dish.

He had sun-dried tomatoes to skin. He would do that. And then there were only those sounds: the soft tearing of vegetable flesh by hand or knife. Tomato skin landed softly in the sink. The knife landed rhythmically against the cutting board, and then scrapped its work to the side. 

"I'm sorry-"

"Carlos, I-"

They tried at the same time, and broke off. Carlos gathered himself first, or maybe did the opposite, or it wasn't so much that he did anything at all. What he had to say spilled out before he could stop it.

"I know I shouldn't have brought it up, or, if it was a problem, I should have brought it up before now. So that's on me. Anyway, it can wait. It'll wait. Can you hand me the pasta? The water's definitely ready. I think it's been ready, actually."

"Hold on. Breathe. Let me handle the pasta." Cecil claimed the box from the counter, and crossed to the stove. He tipped the pasta into water, which, thankfully, had not gotten too hot. He stirred as he spoke. "As for whether or not you should have said… Maybe. But I could have said something, too, which is...”

Carlos watched him from the sink, with his arms wrapped around his body. “Which is?”

“Which is, I… really shouldn't have said that. I take you and your work seriously, and… nothing about that statement reflected how I think of you. So. Can I offer a correction?"

"Okay." 

Cecil flipped the spoon out of the pot, and tapped the water off. He held it under his chin. "Right. Corrections. I did feel like you were being childish. I guess. But it wasn't the way you stim. I just… felt… like you weren't listening. No matter what I said. Um. But that's all justification and excuses. I shouldn't have said _that_, and I'm sorry."

Carlos nodded, without relaxing. "Well… I'm sorry, too. I was so excited about doing science here, close to you, and I thought you would be too and then it took time for me to reconcile that strong preconception with the information in front of me. It's not like I didn't hear you. I did hear you. But I thought, about you, 'if I could just make him understand how cool and important these experiments are, he'd feel differently!' Which was really unfair. So. I'm sorry. That's what I've been thinking about – one thing."

"I mean, I thought I would be excited, too. I was excited about you being home more, and doing science at home. I love you, and your love of science, and all the ways you express that love! But it started to feel like you forgot about the home part, and all of these things that we chose together, and I was upset about that." 

Water hissed onto the stove, and Cecil jolted. He spun around and made the necessary adjustments to the temperature. As he resumed stirring, Carlos came up behind him and wrapped his arms around his husband's waist, leaning his cheek onto Cecil's back. Cecil braced his hands on the edge of the stove carefully, adjusting his posture to invite Carlos' closeness.

Cecil continued, "I missed you the whole time, honestly. I know you had to get your experiments done, and I do appreciate your finding that space. But, Carlos, darling Carlos, I missed you. I wanted you home from the moment you left. I, uh, may have… resented both your actions at home _and_ you being gone. And that was, like, super unfair of me, too. I said something really _mean_ because of it, and I should know better, right?"

"You should. I'm sorry for making you feel that way, and I understand that you're sorry about what you said. I accept your apology.”

He kissed Cecil's back, over the spine and between the shoulder blades.

“You should know to pay more attention to what you say, and I should know to pay more attention to things other than science. Which doesn't mean that science isn't the coolest - I have charts. Do you want me to get the charts? No. No, I don't think the charts are actually what we need right now. What I mean is, I mean, we both _do_ know better, but look, we've spent over twenty years at home in our fields, so it probably makes sense that we're still learning what it means to be at home with each other."

Cecil laughed, just gently, just spanning a breath. He straightened up, and Carlos stepped away so that Cecil could turn around and hold him.

Cecil said, "Well... I accept your apology, too. You know how I feel about learning, but I think I can make an exception for this, if it means spending time with you." 

Carlos smiled up at him. "I know. I can tell... You were trying to make me feel at home these past few weeks."

Cecil winced. "Oh. Mhmm. I mean, I could tell it wasn't really working. You had a problem to solve, and we - our homes are within us, aren't they? You aren't at home with an unsolved problem."

"It's just the kind of people we are. It's the essence of us," Carlos agreed. "It's the things we do and the people we love and the connections and conflicts between these things..." 

"That's home," Cecil finished. "Well. I'm glad you're home. Hon, I am so proud of you for solving the crime! You're the smartest person in Night Vale!" 

He leaned down, and Carlos tilted his face up, and they kissed - not for so long, but enough to leave the sensation of breathlessness, anyway.

Cecil grinned. "I'm married to the smartest person in Night Vale! And I'm just so. _So_ glad to have you back in our house, _and_ home. I'm so glad you're safe. You know, words haven't been doing much for me lately. Will you let me show you what I think of you?"

Carlos pulled him into another kiss, even quicker, and assured him, "Oh, yes. I'll be sure to pay _very_ close attention."

Cecil threaded his fingers into Carlos' hair, and kissed him, deep and full and with the lightness that a vanished ache left, until the water boiled over again.

**Author's Note:**

> listen...... I had to try
> 
> also since I've seen this catching on lately: you can find me @cecilos on tumblr!! there's lots of WTNV blogging so


End file.
